The water tanker has arrived from Suzhou to Nanjing. In the Jiangdong Guild Hall by the Qinhuai River, several geishas were playing or performing the recently popular "Huan Sha Ji". At this moment, there is a Qing Dynasty tune inside the house, and the patter of rain outside.
Wang Shiqi and Shu Qingping sat facing each other, with only tea and no wine on the table.
It's rare to go ashore to rest, and you should have a few drinks to relieve moisture and relieve fatigue. Is it possible that this deputy Shu Qianhu doesn't drink? Wang Shiqi, who always prided himself on being an elegant scholar, felt a little strange.
There seemed to be something hidden under Shu Qingping's calm expression. While pouring tea to Wang Shiqi, he asked: "Hundreds of ships and tens of thousands of people are parked at the port. Only officials from more than a hundred households can go ashore to rest. The rest of the officers and soldiers must guard the ships." Zhiye...does Mr. Wang know why this is?"
"Of course Brother Shu manages the army well and enforces orders and prohibitions to ensure that water transportation is foolproof."
"Haha... Mr. Wang, look at how many wine shops and brothels there are on both sides of the Qinhuai River. They paint boats, play music and sing, and are extravagant and lustful. The soldiers floating on the boats are also human beings. Who doesn't want to live and die in this gentle countryside." Shu Qingping sneered and continued. : "Hmph... Human nature is like this. A decree from the imperial court cannot control these things. What can control them is to let them understand the dangers themselves."
Shu Qingping saw that the expression on Wang Shiqi's face was frozen, and continued: "Master Wang, sometimes what you see with your eyes may not be the truth, just like this Qinhuai River, it may be heaven on earth in your eyes, but it is the underworld of purgatory in my eyes. "
Wang Shiqi looked shocked, wondering why Shu Qingping suddenly said these words. He looked at the scars on Shu Qingping's face, and felt a chill in his heart for no apparent reason.
Shu Qingping walked over and seemed to have suddenly lost his respect for civil servants. He reached out and patted Wang Shiqi on the shoulder and said, "One of the commanders of Zhenhai Guard, named Cai Jiacheng, has been acting strangely recently. Does Mr. Wang know? "
"We talk about the different paths of civil and military affairs. He is just a commander. How could Wang know there was something wrong with him?" Wang Shiqi replied.
"Really? Maybe so." Shu Qingping nodded noncommittally, and then asked: "Then there are other things that are wrong. Chief Wang must be able to know."
Wang Shiqi subconsciously took a deep breath and asked, "What's the matter?"
"The canal is becoming increasingly congested, so the canals go northward in batches as usual and usually do not crowd together. However, according to Shu's observation, there are no less than 500 canals in Nanjing today, and the canal army is at least seven in size. Although I don’t know how many people there are, but it must be at least 10,000.”
Shu Qingping looked at Wang Shiqi calmly, paused, and asked slowly: "And Mr. Wang, with his dignity as the head of the household department, actually condescended to supervise the transportation of Shu's small fleet. Shu I have to be surprised, and at the same time I really can’t help but want to ask: Why is the principal here?”
Wang Shiqi smiled slightly: "Shu Qianrong's question is really surprising. Now Gao Jinglue is supervising the battle in Mobei, my imperial court's 600,000-strong army is out on expedition, and the capital's food supply is getting tight... Under such circumstances, I, a household, Is it any wonder that officials personally went south to supervise the transportation of food, wages and other supplies?"
Shu Qingping shook his head and said: "As a rule, the capital's grain reserves will have an additional four million dan in addition to the year's needs. In the past, there was always the risk of mildew. This is normal for our government. Gao Situ was appointed as the Ministry of Household Affairs Since then, the warehouses have been cleaned up, the accumulated defects have been eliminated, and an additional one million stones have been added for the purpose of storing grain for expeditions.
Moreover, for this campaign, the actual military rations directly supplied by the capital were only 60,000 to 70,000 people for the Imperial Guard, and the rest were drawn from Jiubian's reserves, which had also been increased in the past two years. The Northern Expedition has only been going on for two months now, and news has even come from the front that the Tumen army has disappeared, and there has not yet been a direct battle between the two armies.
From this point of view, the capital's abundant grain reserves are far from critical, and the officials who went south to supervise the transportation of grain and grass this time seem to be not only from the Ministry of Household Affairs... What is Mr. Wang's comment on this? "
Wang Shiqi was at a loss for words for a moment, but he still quickly replied: "I think the court is preparing for a rainy day. It would rather be better prepared than having to worry about the situation when it comes."
"If all the nobles in power are just thinking this way, it will naturally be a blessing to the imperial court and the world." Shu Qingping said and smiled: "But the above situation plus the sudden arrival of the Jin Yiwei when we were in Suzhou a few days ago, the whole Things just seem to be unusual.”
Wang Shiqi shook his head: "Shu Qianrong, you and I are only fifth- and sixth-grade officials, so why should we care too much about these things? If the sky falls, there will be tall people to support it, so where will it be our turn to discuss and worry?"
Shu Qingping was silent for a moment, took a few steps, and said, "In other words, something really happened."
"Maybe, maybe not, but Wang still said what he said, we can't change anything, so why bother ourselves, or even risk our own death?" Wang Shiqi replied quietly.
Shu Qingping snorted softly, his laughter seemed to contain a little ridicule, or self-deprecation: "Shu is naturally an insignificant pawn, but you, Mr. Wang, are not."
Wang Shiqi suddenly felt something in his heart, and he forced himself to calm down and said: "If you are a sixth-grade chief, you can grab a lot of them in the capital. Aren't they just pawns?"
Shu Qingping glanced at him and said: "Mr. Wang, if my investigation is correct, you are called Jibo and are from Taicang. Your great-grandfather is Taizhuo, a Jinshi in Chenghua, and the Minister of the Ministry of War; your ancestor is Taizhuo, a Jinshi in Jiajing, and the censor of Youdu; your father is Ba Shizhen, Jiajing Jinshi, Minister of the Ministry of Punishment, literary giant...
With Master Wang's life experience and his own status, is he being humble? If this is the case, then people like Shu and the brothers in the Cao Army who are on this trip are probably no longer human beings in the eyes of Chief Wang. "
A bright light flashed in Wang Shiqi's eyes, but he immediately regained his composure and said calmly: "So what if Wang's ancestors had some low-ranking officials and low reputations? I think that the senior Situ of my department is also very different in age from Wang, but now he is already As the leader of the ministry and the general manager, once this battle is successful, I am afraid that returning to the court will be the future of the pavilion, and he will not be able to become a prince or prime minister. In comparison, if Wang is not a pawn, what can he be?
Furthermore, Shu Qianrong, your current worries have nothing to do with Wang’s family background. Moreover, the person who went south to supervise the transportation of water ships this time was far from Wang. This clearly shows that it was the work of the imperial court. In this case, whether you or I are worrying or doubting here, it is all useless in the end. Why bother? It’s going to rain. If your mother wants to get married, it’s better not to ask, not to say, not to do anything. "
Shu Qingping was about to speak when he suddenly heard someone outside exclaiming: "The water has leaked! The water has leaked!"
"Sure enough, something happened!" Shu Qingping was startled by the shouts and suddenly turned his head to look outside. The sky full of firelight reflected on his face through the window. Hundreds of watercrafts on the riverbank dock were burned into a fire dragon.
But that wasn't what shocked him the most, because the voice of the shout immediately changed: "Japanese pirates are attacking at night! There are Japanese pirates!"
Shu Qingping's heart tightened, he turned around, picked up the saber, and glanced at Wang Shiqi. Wang Shiqi also stood up, looking panicked, and murmured: "Why are there still Japanese pirates?"
Shu Qingping sneered, but ignored him. He jumped out of the second floor window with a knife in hand and rushed towards the flagship. On his flagship were gifts from the governors of several Jiangnan provinces presented to the emperor. If they were snatched away by Japanese pirates, the lives of all the Cao army brothers on board would be at risk.
At this moment, hundreds of watercrafts and the shore of the wharf were immersed in a sea of fire, which reflected the Qinhuai River red. Lightning and heavy rain did not reduce the intensity of the fire. Countless Qinhuai Painted Boats were in a mess, scurrying around like headless flies, adding to the chaos.
Some soldiers on the canal had no time to put on their weapons, let alone their equipment. Some soldiers were even so drunk that they were injured by Japanese pirates who came from nowhere. Not only his Cao army was caught off guard for a while, but several Cao armies were completely defeated.
This group of Japanese pirates obviously came well prepared. They were a small team of ten, with archers and double swords on their backs. They had a clear route. Once they succeeded, they retreated immediately and never hesitated to fight. The entire operation was orderly.
The Cao army and the Japanese pirates fought together on the boat, dock and shore. Shu Qingping jumped on the boat and felt a cold light flash before his eyes. His face felt hot and blood spurted out. The Japanese pirates slashed him on the left side of his face. Fortunately, he dodged in time and did not hit any vital parts.
He turned around and struck out with his sword, forcing the fierce Japanese pirate back, then stepped forward and struck him with three swords. The Japanese pirate might have been killed easily before, but he didn't expect a powerful enemy to suddenly appear. He accidentally split his chest open and fell to the ground without closing his eyes.
Shu Qingping had no time to be happy. The flagship was in critical condition at the moment, and he had to find a way to stabilize the situation. While shouting, Shu Qingping used his voice to stabilize the morale of the Cao army, while bravely wielding his sword, he dealt with the two Japanese pirates who came to outflank him.
At this moment, a cloud-piercing arrow emitting red fire roared through the night sky and exploded like daylight. The rumble of war drums came from far and near from the river.
A typical Jinghua-style armed transport ship was in front, and two ordinary Ming army Haicang ships were behind. The three warships passed through the night in a Z-shaped attack formation and headed towards the dock.
The soldiers on the armed transport ship uniformly wore brown shorts inside and sleeveless armor outside. More than a hundred soldiers armed with Wanli II muskets were lined up on both sides of the deck. The front and rear rows alternately fired volleys at the Japanese pirates.
The soldiers on the Ming army's Haicang ship were uniformly dressed in Yuanyang war robes, carrying long knives on their backs, and waving flying hooks in their hands to throw towards the ship. After the flying hook catches the mast, he jumps up, like a magic soldier descending from the sky, flying into the sea of fire to fight the Japanese pirates up close.
At the same time, another hundred soldiers disembarked and landed, blocking the dock and cutting off the Japanese pirates' retreat. Shu Qingping was shocked by the scene in front of him. He had never seen an army with such clear tactics, well-equipped and well-trained troops. But when he subconsciously looked towards the flag-planting place on the bridge of the leading armed transport ship, he suddenly understood.
"Tax Police Corps!"
After the establishment of the eleven departments of the two agencies, a special army was set up under the Customs Administration called the Tax Police Corps. The name of this unit is modeled after the "Tax Police Corps" (self-published on Baidu), but it continues Gao Pragmatic's consistent style of "naming small". After all, "Regiment" is the name of an army in the Ming Dynasty, such as "Ten "Second Regiment Camp", "Ten Regiment Camp" and the like.
Gao Pragmatic's purpose in establishing the Tax Police Corps was different from that of Boss Song who would lead the "Tax Police Corps" three hundred years later. He did not need to regard the Tax Police Corps as his military capital in politics. The mission of the Tax Police Corps was simply to arrest smuggling. , just protection and taxation.
However, there are similarities with the "Tax Police Corps", that is, the sources of troops of the Tax Police Corps are very complex, and the weapons and equipment are very sophisticated.
The soldiers of the Tax Police Corps mainly come from two sources: the armed servants of Jinghua who are directly employed by the Customs Department, and the elite selection and deployment of the Ming Army. This force is divided into two parts: land and water, but they are uniformly dispatched by the Customs Department, and various expenditures are also allocated by the Customs Department.
The three ships of the Tax Police Corps that appeared on the Qinhuai River today are from the water part. Among them, the armed transport ship from Jinghua came from Shanghai County, and the two ships from the Ming Army part came from Jiangyin, which belongs to the inland part of the Yangtze River. .
At this moment, Shu Qingping didn't know why the warships of the Tax Police Corps appeared here, but he still shouted a response and actively mobilized the enthusiasm of the Cao army to save the ship and cargo.
However, this was just a drop in the bucket. In the end, his flagship was the only one he saved. Most of the other ships were damaged, and about 30% of them were seriously damaged. It seemed that there was no need to repair it, and all the cargo on it was probably reduced to Nothing.
On the other side, the tax police headquarters were still fighting fiercely with the Japanese pirates. Although the Japanese pirates were brave, they lacked firearms and were suppressed and beaten by tall and majestic armed transport ships. This is a large ship. Although it is somewhat inconvenient to move in the Qinhuai River, it is also convenient for them to block the mouth.
Seeing that they could not defeat the Japanese pirates, they put the looted things on their own ships and began to flee. When they rushed past the armed transport ships, they were beaten by artillery fire and one ship was sunk. Six ships were left and escaped.
However, the Japanese pirates finally rushed out, and the three boats of the tax police headquarters were obviously very annoyed. They turned around as quickly as possible and chased after them.
There was chaos on the Qinhuai River, and flames shot into the sky. Shu Qingping stared blankly at the hundreds of canal boats that were almost burned, thinking about the punishment he might face next, and couldn't help but feel despair.
If the water transport is lost, the canal army will bear 40% of the responsibility!
To put it bluntly, now his Cao army - no, there are several other Cao troops parked here at the same time, have reached the point where they can't afford to lose even if they pawn their pants. It seemed certain that he would be sent to Jiubian or even beheaded and ransacked his house.
All is lost!
But Shu Qingping still refused to give up. When he came to his senses, he quickly commanded the somewhat dull Cao Army officers and ordered them to try their best to rescue the canal ships and supplies. However, at this moment, he discovered that something was wrong with the surrounding situation. Several other Cao troops were gathering not far away. It seemed that... was someone giving them orders?
Probably not, because he soon heard some shouts, among which were words such as "We can't afford to pay," "Forget it," "We have too many people," and "There is no shortage of money in Nanjing."
Shu Qingping shouted in his heart, "It's going to be bad!" Someone might be provoking a mutiny!
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